Texas benches Quinn Ewers for Arch Manning, then switches back

AUSTIN, Texas — Despite benching Quinn Ewers for Arch Manning during No. 1 Texas‘ 30-15 loss to No. 5 Georgia on Saturday night, coach Steve Sarkisian said after the game there was not a quarterback competition.

“Quinn’s our starting quarterback,” Sarkisian said. “I appreciate the fact that we’re fortunate enough to have a backup like Arch that can come into the game and provide a spark in some sense, but at the end of the day, Quinn’s our starter.”

Trailing 20-0, Manning entered the game with 4:43 left in the first half. His first drive ended in a punt and his second ended with him fumbling the ball while attempting a pass, setting up a Georgia field goal to make it 23-0 at the end of the first half.

Ewers had struggled in the face of Georgia’s pass rush. He was pressured on six of his 16 dropbacks, going 0 for 2 on those plays, with three sacks. Overall, Ewers was 6-of-12 passing for 17 yards and an interception when he was benched.

Sarkisian said Ewers’ “eyes weren’t where they needed to be” so he opted to give him a chance to settle down and come back out for the second half, though Ewers said he wasn’t told until he was in the locker room at halftime. Ewers was asked if he agreed with Sarkisian’s assessment that he needed to reset.

“I mean, it seemed like I did,” he said. “I came out after, second half, and put a couple of good drives together, but it’s definitely a weird position to be in, for sure. … I felt good. I thought I was making some of the right decisions. Obviously missed a couple here and there. But it’s tough.”

Ewers and Manning were both under duress from Georgia’s pass rush. The Bulldogs got pressure on 39% of Texas dropbacks. Georgia had 11 sacks all season but finished with seven against Texas. The Longhorns rushed for only 39 yards.

“The game, the way that it went, allowed elite pass rushers to pass rush,” Sarkisian said.

Ewers finished 25-of-43 passing for 211 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception. Manning went 3-of-6 for 19 yards.

“Quinn’s our starter, but I think we’ve got to do a better job around him,” Sarkisian said. “I think he would tell you he can play better, but we’ve got to coach better. Everybody’s got to be better for our offensive football team to perform better.”

Ewers said he thought Ewers showed his competitive side in the second half, noting, “I’m sure he wasn’t the happiest guy with me” for taking him out of the game.

The Longhorns’ rocky showing was a disappointment for a top-ranked Texas team in front of 105,215 in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in one of the most anticipated games of the season. But Sarkisian said in a 12-team playoff era, one loss doesn’t prevent the Longhorns from any of their goals for the rest of the season.

“Losing a game like this doesn’t kill you,” Sarkisian said. “It was one game. … I think we can sit around here and throw a pity party for ourselves, but I don’t know what good that’s going to do for us.”

Ewers agreed.

“We lost to a good team today and I think everybody understands that,” Ewers said. “Obviously not the outcome that we wanted, but there’s still a lot of football to be played.”